Latest Sonata Arctica News

Below is our complete Sonata Arctica news coverage, including columns and articles pertaining to the band. Some articles listed may be indirectly related, such as side projects of the band members, etc.

Note: We began associating news directly with bands in late 2003. Therefore, earlier band news may not be listed on this page.

"It's always exciting to find out how our latest album has been received and this time around we were blown away by the great chart positions, especially in Germany and Finland," states Henrik "Henkka" Klingenberg. "It'll be really great to see where it'll go from here! Thanks a lot for buying the album!!!"

And to clink the champagne glasses, Sonata Arctica now releases a new lyric video for the ballad "We Are What We Are." More...

"The Ninth Hour" will be released on CD, digipack, and 2LP. The track listing for the album is as follows:

1. Closer to An Animal (see lyric video here)2. Life3. Fairytale4. We Are What We Are5. 'Till Death's Done Us Apart6. Among the Shooting Stars7. Rise a Night8. Fly, Navigate, Communicate9. Candle Lawns10. White Pearl, Black Oceans, Pt. II - "By the Grace of the Ocean"11. On the Faultline (Closure to an Animal)12. Run to You More...

Finnish power/progressive act Sonata Arctica posted the third in a series of trailers for the upcoming new album "The Ninth Hour," which will be released on October 7th via Nuclear Blast. In the latest clip, vocalist Tony Kakko discusses the lyrical topics on the album.

"The Ninth Hour" will be released on CD, digipack, and 2LP. The track listing for the album is as follows:

1. Closer to An Animal (see lyric video here)2. Life3. Fairytale4. We Are What We Are5. 'Till Death's Done Us Apart6. Among the Shooting Stars7. Rise a Night8. Fly, Navigate, Communicate9. Candle Lawns10. White Pearl, Black Oceans, Pt. II - "By the Grace of the Ocean"11. On the Faultline (Closure to an Animal)12. Run to You

"The Ninth Hour" is approaching and Finnish power metal group Sonata Arctica is ready to celebrate it with you on October 7th.

Today, the band releases the first trailer for this upcoming ninth album - check it out below.

If you missed the first lyric video, you can watch "Closer To An Animal" at this location.

"The Ninth Hour" will be released on CD, digipack, and 2LP. The track listing for the album is as follows:

1. Closer to An Animal2. Life3. Fairytale4. We Are What We Are5. 'Till Death's Done Us Apart6. Among the Shooting Stars7. Rise a Night8. Fly, Navigate, Communicate9. Candle Lawns10. White Pearl, Black Oceans, Pt. II - "By the Grace of the Ocean"11. On the Faultline (Closure to an Animal)12. Run to You

Today, Finland's Sonata Arctica brings you "Closer to An Animal" with a lyric video for the opening track and first single from the upcoming release "The Ninth Hour." The album drops like a Nuclear Blast on October 7th.

The track list for the album is:

1. Closer to An Animal2. Life3. Fairytale4. We Are What We Are5. 'Till Death's Done Us Apart6. Among the Shooting Stars7. Rise a Night8. Fly, Navigate, Communicate9. Candle Lawns10. White Pearl, Black Oceans, Pt. II - "By the Grace of the Ocean"11. On the Faultline (Closure to an Animal)12. Run to You

Only two years after the release of "Pariah's Child" (reviewed here) and a massive world tour, the Finnish melodic metal quintet Sonata Arctica is already back for more.

The band's ninth masterpiece entitled "The Ninth Hour" will see the light of day on October 7th via Nuclear Blast. Once again, the album was produced by Sonata Arctica and mixed by Pasi Kauppinen.

“The studio work for the new record started seriously in mid-April 2016 in several home studios around Finland," singer Tony Kakko explains. “But the main recording and mixing took place at the Studio57 in Alaveteli, Finland. It functions as a kind of centre point and all work finally ends up there. We aimed to create another melodic, beautiful, surprising Sonata Arctica album… Did it turn out that way? I surely think so. But maybe I should leave that for you to decide!”

After a North American tour with Nightwish plus many headline shows around the globe, the band was once again able to take a look at the entire world as it is at the moment – on the edge of a possible armageddon. This spirit is reflected in the new artwork of "The Ninth Hour." Sonata Arctica comments:

“The artwork of our ninth studio album 'The Ninth Hour' depicts a future utopian landscape. Nature and human technologies are balanced. In the middle we have an hour glass contraption with a knob for us to meddle with. The right-hand side cup represents the nature side with no humans left, on the left we have the human dystopia after we have destroyed nature. The idea I had was, that turning the knob will tilt the hour glass in one direction or another, and the other cup will slowly empty and that future will be erased. Biblically we are expected to repent and sacrifice on 'The Ninth Hour'…to dive right back to a more mundane reality, it’s a fact that we are currently living in critical, historical times. Our decisions will define the future. Not only ours as a race, but the future of this entire planet. We need to make sacrifices and in many cases we will repent our already made choices.” More...

Finnish melodic metal quintet Sonata Arctica announced that the band is working on the follow up to the 2014 album "Pariah's Child" (see review here). The band will also tour 9 European countries with support from label mates Twilight Force.

The new album is due for release in October via Nuclear Blast, stay tuned for more info. As with "Pariah's Child," the as yet untitled upcoming ninth studio album will be recorded at Studio 57.

Keyboard player Henrik ‘Henkka’ Klingenberg commented: “As far as the musical direction of the album, it's really too early to say how it will turn out. Having said that, I expect the usual Sonata Arctica trademarks to be found on it. We will however get this album completed in time for an autumn release and we'll tell you all more as things progress..."

Sonata Arctica commented on the EU tour announcement: “We're all really looking forward to finishing our new studio album and taking the songs on the road. This time we'll start in Europe and the UK before heading on to the rest of the world. As always, you can expect an energetic show with new material as well as some old favourites.”

Henrik continued: "At the moment we're taking a break from the recording of our 9th studio album and heading out with Nightwish for a couple of months in North America. When we get back we're more or less going straight into the studio to continue working on the album." More...

The Finnish melodic metal heroes from Sonata Arctica are set to release a very special Christmas gift for their fan base: a new single called "Christmas Spirits."

This year the handing out of presents will happen six days early as the single will be released on December 18th via Nuclear Blast. It will be released via digital download and as a limited edition EP, only available at the Nuclear Blast Online Shop. The band commented:

"Hello everyone out there! Christmas is just around the corner so we decided to cheer you all up with a nice Christmas story. 'Decided' might be a bit strong in this context since the 'Christmas Spirits' song has been around for about ten years now, we just never had the time to record it. Finally during the 'Pariah's Child' sessions we managed to do the basic tracks and this autumn we finished the song.

"I guess the main reason for the delay was getting the lyrics done, it’s nearly impossible to get into the Christmas mood unless it’s actually… you guessed it, Christmas. Hats off to Tony since he did it anyway, this autumn, and without any snow, we might add. Be that as it may, here’s our latest piece of art: 'Christmas Spirits'! Merry Christmas to everyone & cheers." More...

Ticket vendor Enterthevault.com has announced that Finland's Nightwish will embark on a second leg of the North American tour in February/March 2016 with countrymates Sonata Arctica in support along with Dutch act Delain (who provided support in the just wrapped up first leg along with Sweden's Sabaton).

We wish to stress that the following dates listed by the vendor have NOT been formally announced by the bands and may be subject to change, however they appear to be onsale (including VIP experiences) at this location:

Finland's Sonata Arctica recently released a re-recorded version of debut album "Ecliptica," which originally came out 15 years ago.

Today Sonata Arctica is proud to announce the "Ecliptica over Europe Tour 2015," together with special guest Freedom Call. The band comments:

"It’s been some months since we released the re-recorded version of our debut album 'Ecliptica' and of course we couldn’t resist the temptation of attempting to play the whole album front to back live.

"Hence, we’re happy to announce the 'Ecliptica' special shows in Europe. On these shows we’ll perform 'Ecliptica' in it’s entirety as well as assorted hits from our catalog. This is a one-time thing only, don’t miss it.

"As special guest we will bring Freedom Call who will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their 'Eternity' record and play a special set around that album. See you all out there!!!" More...

The Finnish melodic metal heroes Sonata Arctica released a re-recorded version of debut album "Ecliptica" last month, which originally came out 15 years ago.

Today the band unveils a special video clip for a cover version of the Genesis track "I Can’t Dance," available as a bonus track on "Ecliptica – Revisited; 15th Anniversary Edition." Commented vocalist & keyboardist Tony Kakko:

“Instead of filming yet another tour documentary, showing venues and our daily routines again and again, I thought it would be fun to create some kind of music video instead. So, as we were getting ready to embark on our North-American leg of our 'Pariah’s Child' tour we decided to take the opportunity to promote the fresh re-make of our debut album 'Ecliptica' by using a song from that release.

"Idea wise our cover version of Genesis' ‘I Can’t Dance’ ('We Can’t Dance,' 1991) seemed the easiest and most fun to make happen. I mean, walking and dancing around North-America… sounds like a fun thing to do, right?! And that it sure was. The experience ranged reaction wise from 'no one even paid too much attention to us' ( in New York filled with dancing maniacs such as me and Pasi, I suppose) to 'people looking a little scared and a cop telling us to move further away from our subject' (San Antonio). No, we did not get arrested. Damn…Originally we recorded the cover as a bonus for »Stones Grow Her Name«, but for some reason it never wound up anywhere. Better late.

"I’ve always liked the song. I like many, many Genesis songs actually, but I remember one day coming up with this idea to do something fun with ‘I Can’t Dance’ and adding the horn sections and see how it sounds. More...

The Finnish melodic metal heroes in Sonata Arctica are still en route in support of their latest output "Pariah’s Child" (reviewed here) and set to release a re-recorded version of debut album "Ecliptica," which originally dropped 15 years ago.

This new version will be out on October 24th under the banner "Ecliptica – Revisited; 15th Anniversary Edition" through Nuclear Blast.

Today the band unveils the official album trailer for the revisited edition, featuring excerpts from "My Land," "Replica," and as well as "Kingdom For A Heart." Check it out below.

While currently on another world tour, this time to support the "Pariah’s Child" album (reviewed here), Finnish melodic metal heroes Sonata Arctica swung by the studio to re-record debut album "Ecliptica," which was originally released 15 years ago.

This new version will be released on October 24th under the banner "Ecliptica – Revisited; 15th Anniversary Edition" through Nuclear Blast.

Way back when, "Ecliptica" was recorded at Tico-Tico studios and mixed at Finnvox by Mikko Karmila. The album was promoted live on tour with Stratovarius and Rhapsody. Henrik 'Henkka' Klingenberg comments:

"When it first was suggested to us by our Japanese label that we’d re-record our debut album 'Ecliptica,' it felt a bit weird, but somehow the idea grew on us. Being that only Tony and Tommy played on the original one, we thought that it would be a fun thing to do, to give these great songs another run.

"We’re definitely not trying to re-write history, the original 'Ecliptica' is the starting point of this band and a very special album with a certain feel of innocence and enthusiasm which cannot be recreated as such since we’re not teenagers anymore. Having said that, this new version is more of a tribute and an update on how these songs sound when played by our current line-up.

"We wanted to stay true to the original album as much as possible and not turn this into some weird re-arranged project where you couldn’t tell which song was being played. So here it is, the 15th anniversary version of 'Ecliptica'.

"Hope you enjoy it, we certainly had a good time digging into these songs and laying down the tracks." More...

Finnish metal act Sonata Arctica released the second part in a track-by-track video series for the upcoming new album "Pariah's Child." The album drops on March 28th (EU), March 31st (UK) and April 1, 2014 (North America) via Nuclear Blast. A review for the new album can be found at this location.

The track list is as follows:

1. The Wolves Die Young (see music video)2. Running Lights3. Take One Breath4. Cloud Factory (see lyric video)5. Blood6. What Did You Do in the War, Dad?7. Half a Marathon Man8. X Marks the Spot9. Love10. Larger Than Life